Call 'em like I see 'em

If baseball can have umpires who call 'em as they see 'em, so should politics.

I see President Barack Obama making a big mistake by getting mired once again in the quagmire that is Iraq.

I know there are no easy answers here, but my gut tells me returning a handful of troops, and then using them to simply tread water, isn't the solution.

I see the Republicans desperately struggling to get out of the quicksand that would be the nomination of either Donald Trump or Ted Cruz, but sometimes in politics, as in life, you've got to take a step backward in order to take two steps forward.

And for those of you buying the conventional wisdom that a Trump or Cruz defeat would be the end of the Republican Party as we know it, here is something to remember.

History tells us that when the Republicans took a massive beating in 1964 with their then right-leaning candidate Barry Goldwater, the next cycle they beat the Democrats with Richard Nixon.

History also reminds us that when the Democrats took a massive beating in 1972 with their then left-leaning candidate George McGovern, the next cycle they beat the Republicans with Jimmy Carter.

The lesson is that in politics, all things are cyclical.

I see the new book, Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City by Matthew Desmond winning this year's Pulitzer Prize for nonfiction, so beat the crowds and purchase it now. Powerful stuff.

I see the Republicans in the U.S.

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Senate having a massive change of heart after Hillary Clinton wins the presidency in November, and suddenly demanding that fairness requires Judge Merrick Garland be given expedited hearings and votes, thus allowing him to assume the open Scalia seat on the U.S. Supreme Court, thus cleverly preventing Clinton the chance to fill the seat with an even more liberal nominee following her January swearing in.

I see Trump walking out of the convention and Cruz skulking back to Texas, even now after the Paul Ryan for president boomlet has petered out with the speaker officially ruling himself out of consideration.

My guess as to whom the Grand Old Party would select should both Trump and Cruz be rejected: South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley.

I see Tuesday as the beginning of the end of the "Feel the Bern" movement with Clinton sweeping New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Connecticut over the next three weeks.

I also see Bernie Sanders giving a riveting speech at the Democratic convention in an attempt to keep Clinton's feet to the fire regarding real reforms regarding Wall Street and international trade deals.

I see Cruz someday deeply regretting his politically expedient statement that he always has been loyal to his wife during their entire marriage, and predict soon it will be played in tandem with the embarrassing clip of former President Bill Clinton denying any involvement with Monica Lewinsky back in the 1990s.

I see that many were shaken by the decision by CIA Director John Brennen to insist he would resign before ever waterboarding a single U.S. prisoner ever again because he knows torture doesn't work. However, I believe instead it ought to at least give pause to the 80 percent of Americans who have been convinced by shows like Homeland and 24 that torture is an effective method of gathering accurate intel.

I see that a new poll of the most widely believed conspiracy theories include findings that 51 percent of Americans continue to believe, despite no creditable evidence to the contrary, that President John F. Kennedy was the victim of more than a single assassin; that 37 percent continue to believe global warming is a hoax, despite the fact 99 percent of scientists insist that it is real; and that 21 percent of Americans continue to say that they are sure a UFO crashed in Minnesota in 1947 but the government covered it up.

I'm hoping, however, that a new poll will conclude that not a single American will believe the attorney for former U.S. Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert and his claims the child-molesting former politician is "deeply sorry for his past transgressions."

Transgressions? How about crimes?

Michael Goldman is a paid political consultant for Democratic candidates and president of Goldman Associates in Boston.

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